What the Amish Can Teach Us About Technology
The Amish don’t shun tech—they choose tools that serve their goals and values. By setting limits, and prioritizing relationships over convenience, they model a path for us. Asking “What do I want my devices to do for me?” not “What can they do?”
If you were to ask someone to tell you the Amish stance on technology, you may get something like: "The Amish shun all modern technology." But that's not true. The truth is, in fact, far more interesting. The Amish do use technology - but on their own terms. Their selective, purpose‑driven approach could be a guide for us all to rethink how we live in the digital age.
First, I'd like to share something I heard on Cal Newport's podcast Deep Life, he says talking about modern smartphones (edited slightly for readability, you can listen to the whole segment here):
And I'm wondering by, pushing this media cart. As I head to my room, in this thought experiment, my Mom correctly stops me and says, 'what the hell are you with all of that?' - and then I answer, calmly, 'Mom, there's a phone on here, do you not want me to be able to talk to my friends?'"
It sounds absurd, but also we have no issue identifying the connection that Cal is drawing to the modern smartphone. It has become socially acceptable for people, including children, to walk around interacting constantly with a device that has all the features of Cal's fictitious cart - but we would be very concerned if we saw each of those functions separated out and embodied in a physical form. He brings attention to the trick underlies our current relationship with tech, that we have become okay with this paradigm.
Let's go back to the Amish. In Virtually Amish, Lindsay Ems points out that the Amish do not reject any technology outright. Usually they assign a person, or group of people, in their community to use the new tech for a period of time and determine if it fits in with their value system and principles. They rejected cars because they felt the ability to move throughout the world so quickly undermined the connection to their neighbors and local community - thus the horse and buggy we all associate with the Amish. Smartphones would ultimately be rejected for similar reasons, and for all the other issues highlighted in the cart example. They believed having a smartphone would work against their community's values.
On the other hand, many Amish have adopted computers as business tools, for tasks such as tracking inventory, invoicing, spreadsheets and so on. They even can use email to keep in touch with customers, but they put rules and limitations on these devices. They don't have them at home and, even when at work, some functions are made completely inaccessible. Some even have (dumb) cell phones, but leave them outside the threshold of their home.
I'm struck by something an Amish man told NPR when considering whether to use Quickbooks instead of a checkbook to balance his finances. He said, "You shouldn't be the first in your neighborhood to adopt the new technology and neither should you be the last."
Do they have it right? I don't think we have to adopt the same standards as the Amish to have a healthy relationship with tech. But I do believe we could begin to apply their process in assessing what technology we incorporate into our lives, asking the following questions:
"In what areas of my life have I accepted the intrusion of technology? Am I comfortable with that intrusion? And if I want to put up some limits, what limits look realistic for me?"
I often wonder if future generations will look back upon the current period we are in, observing the addictive and extractive qualities of our tech and feel pity for us? Perhaps they will say, "They lived such shallow lives of consumption. When were they truly present? When did they spend time in reflection and deep thinking?"
I have been encouraged to see strong reception to The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt's book on the negative effects smartphone and social media use on children. His book calls for us to be more thoughtful about how much we expose our children to screens. He advocates for the "Four norms":
- No smartphones before high school
- No social media before 16
- Phone-free schools, from bell to bell
- More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world
What he is proposing, just like the Amish, is not the idea that children would never interact with technology - but instead he advocates for real limits. Real, thoughtful, limits.
So, what the Amish really show us isn’t that we need to banish all tech from our life. It’s a reminder that the problem isn’t the devices themselves, but the way we let them shape our lives. We don’t have to swallow every notification, every app, every “must‑have” that tech companies push our way. Instead, we can pause, ask what each tool actually adds to our values and goals, and set limits that make sense for us. In other words, the question isn’t “What can my phone do for me?” but “What do I want my phone to do for me?” If we answer that honestly and draw thoughtful boundaries, we get back the freedom those devices promise instead of letting them dictate the rhythm of our days.
Additional Reading
For those of you who want to think deeper about your technology use, I recommend the following:
Books
The MIT Press
Podcasts
Articles
(This one is a little old, 2013, but very good - no link preview)
My Other Posts
Ryan Sipes
Ryan Sipes